I first became aware of the dynamic duo that is Phoebe Lapine and Cara Eisenpress (aka the “Quarter-Life Cooks”) through our mutual participation on food52. I fell hard for their recipes and immediately became a fan of the blog they co-write: Big Girls, Small Kitchen. When I met Cara and Phoebe in New York City last winter (at the blogger cookie swap, where I took this picture), I was even more impressed: they are lovely and I enjoyed spending time with them.

I was not at all surprised to hear they were working on their first book. Despite their youth, these ladies have serious talent. They’ve been friends since middle school and that friendship has developed into a truly fabulous cooking and writing partnership. When In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World was released last week, I was thrilled to receive a copy for review.

In the Small Kitchen is an absolute treasure. The elements of memoir make it incredibly charming, but the beautifully photographed recipes make you want to get into the kitchen and cook each and every one. I am, um, quite a bit older than Phoebe and Cara (and my kitchen isn’t small), but I am still learning a lot from this book. I particularly love their advice about entertaining (they clearly excel at cooking for crowds).

I’ve made three of the recipes from the book so far, and all have been terrific.

The first one I am sharing with you, this refreshing and healthy spicy cold Asian noodle salad (which I slightly adapted from the book so it’s gluten-free and has an almond sauce instead of a peanut one), was a big hit with my family. It reminds me of the delicious peanut butter noodles my brother and I used to get from the Chinese restaurant across the street from our NYC apartment when we were kids, but it’s way better.

Directions:

1. In a food processor or blender, pulse together the ginger, garlic, and sugar. Add the chile flakes, almond or peanut butter, tamari, Worcestershire sauce, rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil, and 1/3 cup water and process again until smooth. Transfer to a smaller bowl and refrigerate sauce for at least an hour.

2. Cook noodles according to package directions. Toss bok choy into the boiling water with the noodles for the last minute of so of cooking. Drain and rinse with cold water to chill the noodles, then toss with the 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.

3. Mix noodles and blanched bok choy with the chilled sauce (which you can thin with a little boiling water if it's thickened up after refrigeration), the scallions, and the julienned cucumber. Garnish with cilantro and toasted sesame seeds before serving, and douse with some Sriracha, if desired.

I’m happy to say I have an extra copy of the book to give away to one of my readers! To enter the giveaway:

1. Let me know if you have a small or big kitchen in the comments section below.

2. For an second entry, follow me and BGSK on twitter, then leave a comment letting me know you did (or that you already do).

This giveaway is open until next Monday, June 6, 2011 at midnight, then I will choose a winner using random.org. Make sure I have your email so I can contact you if you win; please note the giveaway is only open to US residents.

Currently we’re renting an oceanside condo in Emerald Isle, NC while we search for a new home here (after moving from TX last week). The kitchen is pretty tiny, but workable, and I can see the Atlantic from the range!

Big or small being relative, I have a kitchen that I designed myself to fit me-with counters that are lower than normal because I am short and open shelving because I like to look at the different colors of my fiesta ware. As far as cooking area goes, I would have to say a definite medium!

We have a small kitchen. It is so small, that depending on which I turn, I could wake up my son, kiss my boyfriend good morning, feed the dog, and do some blogging without taking a step. (just kidding)

I have a medium-sized kitchen but look forward to the day when I have a larger kitchen. I love Asian recipes so I can’t wait to try this one. By the way, this is the first time I have visited your blog.

I live in New York City so you can only imagine the size of my kitchen. If you can even call it one. There needs to be a name for a room that contains your kitchen, living space, and bedroom. Despite the size I still cook everyday!

I would say I have a medium size kitchen, but all things are relative. No granite counters, no six burner restaurant range, no sub zero fridge…but it is big enough for me. Unfortunately, I’d have to say I’m a two thirds lifer…give or take!

I’m not sure small adequately portrays just how tiny my kitchen is – the hubby and I inadvertantly elbow each other if we both try to do something in there at the same time. We don’t even have a pantry, only a few small cabinets for our dishes and food (one whole cabinet is dedicated to spices as we are a bit obsessed), so we use our dishwasher as permanent storage for dishes, foil, plastic wrap, parchment paper, etc. since we do all our washing by hand anyway. We’ve been in this apartment for 5 years (during my time in grad school) we’re finally moving in 2 months and I’m so very excited!

I have a small kitchen in NYC and a bigger-ish kitchen in New Paltz, as you know. It’s big enough to house a stand mixer, so that’s something.

I follow all of you lovely ladies on twitter and I’m liking you on Facebook. I just want to add that if I win the cookbook, you save all kinds of dough on shipping since you can just drive down the road and hand it to me. In fact, you could drive by the house going 30 and fling it out the window at me as I stand on the front lawn.

I’ve graduated to a medium kitchen – though I still long for an island (or at least more counter space). But I consider myself lucky to be able to create amazing & nourishing meals for my loved ones, regardless of my kitchen’s size!

I have a pretty large kitchen which is very open and has lots of great evening light in it. However, my “work triangle” is very large and thus makes for lots of running back and forth! I guess I get my workout in while I cook :)

Winnie, this pasta is gorgeous & I love the idea of that almond sauce.
It is vegetarian week at Get Grillin’ we would love if you submitted up to any 3 recipes (they don’t have to be grilled) to our link up. This one would be perfect!
This week we have a ManPans giveaway. http://su.pr/3GCtXU

[...] the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World, you can leave a comment on my last post or here. I’ll use the total number of comments from both posts to pick a winner with help [...]

Welcome!

Hi there! I'm Winnie. I am a published author and I create and photograph the recipes here at Healthy Green Kitchen. I am also a nutrition and strength coach, as well as a competitive powerlifter. I live in NY's Hudson Valley with my husband, kids, cats, dogs, and chickens.